Isaiah 1
"The multitude of your sacrifices - what are they to me?" says the Lord. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals"
"wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."

God speaks to Israel as a frustrated teacher perhaps would speak to his student. Israel is seen to be a people who have missed the point of God's commands. Bogged down by a system of rituals and sacrifices, festivals and feasts, they have not seen the purpose behind the law. God instead calls them to cultivate justice, to become obedient to Him and His calling.
I wonder if we sometimes are missing the point of what we do? It's said that God hates cardboard...as in boxes, do we sometimes place God in boxes of our making, instead of letting Him command our lives?

Categories: Thoughts

Titus 2
"You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because thay have nothing bad to say about us."

One of the things I've noticed about this passage is the emphasis on self control. It's one of the more obvious things as being a Christian but one that is a huge struggle. That our lives, although freed by Christ is also called to live in a way that is not in our nature anymore, but in a higher nature that is suitable to be God's people.

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself to us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."

I pray that we will continue to seek to do good in this world. Not to be content with the knowledge of God but to be able to carry His love and values into our own lives.

Categories: Thoughts

Titus 1
"Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness - a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour."

I often skim past Paul's introductions in his letters, but somehow the first few lines of Titus really grabbed me and I begin read into them a bit more deeply. To me the story of Paul is one that is inspiring not only because of how he was called, but how he set the example of Christlike endurance; and this introduction somehow explains abit about where he's coming from.
How we see ourselves as individuals will inherently dictate how we live our life out. For Paul, his identity lies solely in Christ and His message. The reason he gives for this is simply that "God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time". To me this is a great assurance especially since I am susceptible to placing hope in many things and I think this is true to anyone. We place our hopes on our education, our careers, our circumstances and almost any other thing to provide us with security, with purpose and with meaning. But often we find these things don't give us anything at all. Education is fleeting and incomplete, careers are at best uncertain and circumstances, although useful for a while, can hide deeper and more long-lasting implications.
For Paul, the realisation of his faith and knowledge came as he carried out God's will for him as a preacher. It was something that he came to know as he perservered in his walk and it was something he kept despite his circumstances, other people's opinions of him.
I pray that my life will be fixed on what God wants, to trust in His promises.

Categories: Thoughts

2 Timothy 4
"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They wil turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardships, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry."

It's true enough, when I think about it, to see that one of the reasons I don't say enough about Jesus to those I know is because there's so much else that can drown out the message of Christ. After I read this passage and then later at night listened to a the talk outlining the importance of knowing God's truth, I'm beginning to realise that I'm missing a crucial part in my own study of the Bible that is the connection of God's Word to my life.
I wonder if the quiet time I'm currently doing is often just a top up of spiritualism every morning, something inspirational to get by with? Have I conformed to the ways of the world by trying to incorporate God's Word as part of everything else in this "instant society"?
It was quite a sad sight when I was sitting in the year 12 and early uni student sunday school class and realise that no one in that room was interested in the applications of God's Word, no one could see beyond what was written on the piece of paper on which the study was printed and onto what God's Word meant to the way they lived.
Perhaps we've become a people who not only just hear what we want to hear but also a people who only say what we know people what to hear.
I pray for the courage and the discipline to be saturated in God's Word. Not to just read the Bible for inspiration but also to be able to use the Word in a deep and relevant way to win people for Christ.

Categories: Thoughts